If you been over to RBCJ-Hub lately, you will have seen a post where I touched briefly about how everything about the site etc has suffered due to ill health.

I thought I would update in more detail as to the situation.

A couple of weeks ago, I woke up struggling to breath, and every time I tried to walk anywhere, I had severe pains in my chest and side causing me to quickly get out of breath.

Panicking, I asked my wife to ring 101. The paramedic arrived and did all the routine checks etc, after about 10 minutes the ambulance crew arrived and after a short conflab with the paramedic, they decided to give me gas and air to relieve the pain, alongside codeine & paracetamol.

The pain subsided enough for me to board the ambulance and be taken to Barnsley General Hospital.
On the way, I asked what the problem could be (as rather stupidly, I left it and left it thinking it was a chest infection, lesson learned!).
Of course, they could only speculate with the symptoms I had described.

Waiting in A&E for what seemed like an eternity with my brother (god bless him for coming and meeting me at hospital) I was told I needed several blood tests.
I can’t really say what I thought, but to put it politely, I thought “Oh dear”.
After 35 years, this was my first ever blood test, and I’m scared of needles…
Now I will just clarify something, I say I am scared of needles and certainly the first thing the doctor said,
“How can you be scared of needles when you have tattoos?”, and simply my reply was, “I was pissed!”

In short, throughout the course of the day, I had 8 needles! (not much to some, but enough for me).
Trying to get blood from my wrists to test blood gases (or something like that) and blood from my arms. The reason I had so many, was, well, in short they couldn’t find a suitable vein lol…

After spending 10 and a half hours in hospital (A&E (Accident and Emergency) and AMU (Acute medical unit)) I was sent home. Yey…or not.

The suspicion of blood clots was believed to be the cause of everything, but they could not confirm this at that moment.
As they suspected blood clots, they had to treat me as such and start treatment right away to get a “head start”. In addition, I had to go to DVT for a daily blood test to monitor my INR (international normalized ratio).
Click here for more information on INR.
My INR was very low, 1.1 in fact, my therapeutic range is between 2-3. My blood was too thick, so I was given a regular (daily) injection into my stomach of Clexane. Great, more needles…

After a week or so of this action being taken, I had to have a scan on my lungs which involved laying flat on a ‘table’ and have a very noisy ‘polo mint’ type machine scan my lungs after they had injected me with a special (radioactive) dye.
The medical staff’s suspicion was confirmed. I have indeed got blood clots on both my lungs and I had suffered a Pulmonary Embolism.

Anyway…Having overcome my fear of needles (and pretty bloody quickly! (no pun intended)), as mentioned, I now have to attend regular blood tests to continue monitoring my INR, and continue on a prescribed anti-coagulant ‘Warfarin’.
So far my INR has fluctuated from 1.1 to 4.0 over the last month, but at least I am only having to go to hospital about once or twice a week now.

So, there you have it. My month in a nutshell…
Despite the seriousness of the condition, I am quite well in myself. I have a few pains and twinges now and again, occasionally I have to walk with a stick to support myself if I get breathless when I’m out and about, but other than that I am fine.

Just as a side note, after 6 months I have to be screened for something called “Factor 5 Leiden“, which is a genetically inherited blood disorder. It basically means, my blood is trying constantly to clot.

As people close to me may know, a member of my family (father) is going through the agonising torment that is an ATOS medical.
In short, anyone that is looking at migrating the Incapacity Benefit over to ESA (Employment Support Allowance) have to go through a shambolic medical assessment.
The so called medical professional, have done nothing short of lie, fabricated and twist anything and everything they could on father’s assessment.

It is disgusting the shear depths they will goto to prevent someone from claiming this benefit. The assessor my father had the misfortune to encounter came across as the perfect medical assessor. Curtious, polite and even seemed to show empathy for my father’s condition, even “cried” at one stage. Turns out she was a total bitch, clever in deception and clearly thinking of the pound signs. Words can’t express the anger and hatred I feel towards that smug little bitch behind her desk….grrrrrr
Anyway, we recieved the ESA85, the form that this, person, had compiled.
To name a few “problems” with the report;

Wrongly documenting my father medication, purposely I might add. Medication was shown which included dosage, type and side effects. Medication was halfed, and “apparently” no side effects for the type of medication.

Assumed on several points what my father is capable of, under the mental cognitive descriptors, some never even answered on the form.

Inconsistant and misleading information entered onto form, such as; Able to walk 200 metres with 5-6 stops at 5 minutes rest time, but then later suggests can walk 400 metres with 6-7 stops at 5 minutes rest time…You work out the math on that one.

Assumed that my Father takes my children (at time of writing 8 years old and 8 month old) to the park to play. A couple of points there; A) He’s my father, I love him to bits, but there is no way in hell would I allow him to take my children to the park. B) My father would be unable to supervise or play with them and be aware of dangers to himself, never mind my children.

Assumed that my father is able to do 2 consecutive personal actions without problems. One example I have that my father is unable to do, seperate washing in to appropriate loads ie color, temp types etc, then take the to the washing machine and set the program. Another example, looking in the fridge or pantry etc, noticing what items are needed, jotting them down then going to the shops and getting the items from the list.

Lies, of one example “suffers from breathing difficulties as a result of an operation in regards to a Haitus Hernia, no specialist input”, yet on the next line “Has a prescribed inhaler for breathing difficulties.” How the hell can you not have specialist input, and get a PRESCRIBED inhaler? Also, my father has regular “Breathing” reviews regards to this condition.

Apparently is able to write short messages and convey them to strangers. A) Not sure how they tested this one, as my father was never asked or completed a “test” to jog anything down, or relate that informationback. But in short, my father cannot even have a conversation and tell you five minutes later what it was about.

In short, the list goes on.
I’ve also read today that those arseholes at ATOS are getting bonuses for getting people thrown off benefits, in addition, these so called heath-care professionals are not qualified in the field they are supposed to when dealing with clients, ie Mental Registered Nurse for clients with mental disorders etc. But try questioning one of the qualifications and you’re asking for a whole heap of trouble.
They are systematically destroying people’s lives.
This country has gone to shit since this new coalition came in.
I don’t normally swear in extreme ways, but they are total fucking bastards!

If anyone out there reading this post in in the UK and going through the hellish onslaught of these self-centred, greedy & heartless bastards, and needing help, please visit;dwpexamination.orgThey offer a world of expertise and experience from people who have gone through these problems, and certainly the people on there are an invaluable resource for dealing with these bastards.

I know I’m not doing this for myself, but certainly, I’m really feeling the stress of it all. If I’m being brutally honest, I think my dad will end up back in hospital. Not a nice thought.

Well, “main backup” has been recovered to an alternate drive.
The curious thing was, apparently the drive had a corrupt filesystem ultimately leading to drive being reported as “RAW” format, or “limbo” state as I call it.
I was offered some hope recovering the disk using “sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdc” via the terminal in ubuntu (as I have my laptop duel booting).

This didn’t work and ubuntu reported to use chkdsk. I couldn’t use this as Windows could not access the drive in the first place. Back to square one!

I finally resolved the issue using ZAR “Zero Assumption Recovery”
Only issue was the free version only allows 1Gb of file recovery, and thedrive was full at 74Gb (80Gb, but as always filesystem etc etc lowers it)
So, after several hours the drive had been completely scanned, verified & recovered.
Joy!
The drive is now being prepped for scanning and formatting procedures and should be back up and running shortly. Yey!

After all that side tracking, I can get back to the more important things, like the site :0)

Portal has totally bottomed out. Server time outissues causing problems accessing the site. Unfortunately, this also happened in the middle of an upgrade. I don’t yet know if I can resolve this issue or even verify the upgrade was successful, until the intermittent server side problems are resolved.
It’s really frustrating as I cannot do anything until morning, so I’m left with a non-function site overnight :0(
A ticket has been raised with provider, I know it’s not anyones fault, but its just so head bangingly frustrating…
Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Well, before I ship of to another broadband provider, I need to prep various aspects of RBCSoftware Online.
I’m looking for someone who can help me administer different parts of RBCSoftware.
I’m looking for someone who has had experience with all aspects of WordPress, and can work from home.

Also wanted, people to literally “piss and moan”.

Yes, that’s right, I want your rants, moans, gripes and annoyances.
Why?
Because there are not enough places to “get it off your chest”, that’s why!

My Visual Basic steps up a gear shortly, I have been working into the wee hours of the night on Fetch!
As mentioned on previous posts, the main work has come from stream-lining and down sizing code bloat, and stripping non-essential graphics and other media from the project.
New features will be mentions soon, and project updates will appear as they happen.

As a bit of a side project, I need facial shots of you guys.

I’m currently writing a simple “Zombie Shoot em up!” and I need the cannon fodder.
Already, I have myself Zombified, and I ask, if anybody would like to be a part of this project, please email me a photo of yourself that you don’t mind being Zombified.
You will have a special mention in the program, and I thank you in advance for your support.
Please email webmaster@rbcsoftware.me.uk with your photos. It does matter about size (dimentions) as I will edit this images anyway.

Before I go, I thought I would create a bit of a “silly competition” around silly rhymes. The best one will be chosen by the number of votes, drawn at the end of each month.
Email them to sillyrhymes @rbcsoftware.me.uk

Ok, so there I was, picking up some chocolate for Babs, when I passed the magazine rack in our local shop.
I saw something that made me chuckle…
On the front of this one magazine was Jordan, AGAIN!
Basically, now she is saying shes been raped.

Now, of course rape is a very serious allegation, but theres something that doesn’t quite ring right, and although I haven’t read the article in full, this is what I ponder.
1st – Jordan’s popularity since splitting from Pete has dropped, is this an attempt to make people feel sorry for her, and bring people back on her side?
2nd – If the the alledged rape happened years ago, as a “teen” trauma, why hasn’t this come to light before? I mean, how many shows has Jordan been on where she has “bared” all? (as it were).

For example, she appeared on the Frank Skinner show some years ago, when she had all theissues with Dane Bowers, and as, with all the media hype got tagged as “thick!”, she tried to prove that she wasn’t.

All in all, I really hope that this news is all fake, as I wouldn’t wish it on anyone one, and with that, this whole situation of Jordan Vs. Peter is all shite!.
Let personal lives be personal, its now starting to get a little bit pathetic!

These are sample of actual call centre conversations.
As I work in one, I found these most funny!!!

Customer: ‘I’ve been ringing 0800 2100 for two days and can’t get through to enquiries, can you help?’.Operator: ‘Where did you get that number from, sir?’.Customer: ‘It was on the door to the Travel Centre’.Operator: ‘Sir, they are our opening hours’.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Samsung ElectronicsCaller: ‘Can you give me the telephone number for Jack?’Operator: ‘I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand who you are talking about’.Caller: ‘On page 1, section 5, of the user guide it clearly states that I need to unplug the fax machine from the AC wall socket and telephone Jack before cleaning. Now, can you give me the number for Jack?’Operator: ‘I think you mean the telephone point on the wall’.
———————————————————————-
RAC Motoring ServicesCaller: ‘Does your European Breakdown Policy cover me when I am travelling in Australia ?’Operator: ‘ Doesn’t the product name give you a clue?’
———————————————————————-
Caller (enquiring about legal requirements while travelling in France ):
‘If I register my car in France , do I have to change the steering wheel to the other side of the car?’
———————————————————————-
Directory EnquiriesCaller: ‘I’d like the number of the Argoed Fish Bar in Cardiff please’.Operator: ‘I’m sorry, there’s no listing. Is the spelling correct?’Caller: ‘Well, it used to be called the Bargoed Fish Bar but the ‘B’ fell off’.
———————————————————————-
Then there was the caller who asked for a knitwear company in Woven.Operator: ‘Woven? Are you sure?’Caller: ‘Yes. That’s what it says on the label; Woven in Scotland ‘.
———————————————————————-
On another occasion, a man making heavy breathing sounds from a phone box told a worried operator:
‘I haven’t got a pen, so I’m steaming up the window to write the number on’.
———————————————————————-
Tech Support: ‘I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop’.Customer: ‘OK’.Tech Support: ‘Did you get a pop-up menu?’.Customer: ‘No’.Tech Support: ‘OK. Right-Click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?’Customer: ‘No’.Tech Support: ‘OK, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?’.Customer: ‘Sure. You told me to write ‘click’ and I wrote ‘click”.
———————————————————————-Tech Support: ‘OK. In the bottom left hand side of the screen, can you see the ‘OK’ button displayed?’Customer: ‘Wow. How can you see my screen from there?’
———————————————————————-Caller: ‘I deleted a file from my PC last week and I have just realised that I need it. If I turn my system clock back two weeks will I have my fileback again?’.
———————————————————————- ——————————————-
There’s always one. This has got to be one of the funniest things in a long time. I think this guy should have been promoted, not fired. This is a true story from the Word Perfect Helpline, which was transcribed from a recording monitoring the customer care department. Needless to say the Help Desk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently suing the Word Perfect organization for ‘Termination without Cause’.
Actual dialogue of a former WordPerfect Customer Support employee. (Now I know why they record these conversations!):

Operator: ‘Ridge Hall, computer assistance; may I help you?’Caller: ‘Yes, well, I’m having trouble with WordPerfect.’Operator: ‘What sort of trouble??’Caller: ‘Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away.’Operator: ‘Went away?’Caller: ‘They disappeared.’Operator: ‘Hmm So what does your screenlook like now?’Caller: ‘Nothing.’Operator: ‘Nothing??’Caller: ‘It’s blank; it won’t accept anything when I type.’Operator: ‘Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out??’Caller: ‘How do I tell?’Operator: ‘Can you see the C: prompt on the screen??’Caller: ‘What’s a sea-prompt?’Operator: ‘Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?’Caller: ‘There isn’t any cursor: I told you, it won’t accept anything I type.’Operator: ‘Does your monitor have a power indicator??’Caller: ‘What’s a monitor?’Operator: ‘It’s the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it’s on??’Caller: ‘I don’t know.’Operator: ‘Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that??’Caller: ‘Yes, I think so.’Operator: ‘Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it’s plugged into the wall.Caller: ‘Yes, it is.’Operator: ‘When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one??’Caller: ‘No.’Operator: ‘Well, there are. I need you to lookback there again and find the other cable.’Caller: ‘Okay, here it is.’Operator: ‘Follow it for me, and tell me if it’s plugged securely into the back of your computer.’Caller: ‘I can’t reach.’Operator: ‘Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is??’Caller: ‘No.’Operator: ‘Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over??’Caller: ‘Oh, it’s not because I don’t have the right angle – it’s because it’s dark.’Operator: ‘Dark??’Caller: ‘Yes – the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window.Operator: ‘Well, turn on the office light then.’Caller: ‘I can’t.’Operator: ‘No? Why not??’Caller: ‘Because there’s a power failure.’Operator: ‘A power…….. A power failure? Aha, Okay, we’ve got it licked now.
Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in??’Caller: ‘Well, yes, I keep them in the closet.’Operator: ‘Good. Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from.’Caller: ‘Really? Is it that bad?’Operator: ‘Yes, I’m afraid it is.’Caller: ‘Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them??’Operator: ‘Tell them you’re too f — ing stupid to own a computer!!!!!’

Customer: ‘I’ve been ringing 0800 2100 for two days and can’t get through to enquiries, can you help?’.
Operator: ‘Where did you get that number from, sir?’.
Customer: ‘It was on the door to the Travel Centre’.
Operator: ‘Sir, they are our opening hours’.